When Tim Thomas decided to take a year off from hockey and was traded to the Islanders, Boston didn’t blink.

Despite the fact that their Stanley Cup hero was leaving and never coming back, management wasn’t worried: they had Tuukka Rask.

The belief in the young goalie from Finland had been growing for Peter Chiarelli and his front office since 2007, when the promising Rask was called up to the Bruins for the first time at age 20. It would take him around three years to secure a spot on Boston’s NHL roster for good, but it was easy to tell right away that he had all the makings of a formidable goaltender in the league. In the 2009-2010 season, Rask earned the starting spot over a struggling Thomas and made the most of it; he was the only goalie with a goals against average less than 2.00 and the only goalie with a save percentage…